[Personal attributes: Strength 5, Spirit 5, Speed 5+1, Defense 4+2, Comprehension 6, Luck ?]
Looking at his personal attributes, the only one that had reached 6 so far was comprehension.
So, after carrying the two little ones back inside and eating dinner, Ye Fei planned to attempt body tempering twice before cultivating.
He had tempered his body several times before, and even though he tried his hardest to endure it, he had still failed once.
Whenever he failed, 100 spiritual energy vanished outright. Body tempering offered no refunds whatsoever.
But after that failure, his next attempt had been much easier. There was no success-rate display, but he could feel how opening up the meridians and acupoints beforehand made the subsequent attempt easier to complete.
"Be good and get some rest tonight. I'm going to cultivate."
Ye Fei stroked the two little ones' heads and put them on the bed, then went into the courtyard and sat down.
He had previously tried laying some flooring in the courtyard so he wouldn't have to sit on the dirt every time.
However, although he could place flooring anywhere in the courtyard, cultivating while sitting on it was no faster than cultivating indoors.
This confirmed for Ye Fei that the courtyard's faster cultivation speed came from its connection to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
He had also tried cultivating outside the courtyard. Aside from having to endure the wind and snow, the cultivation speed was the same.
Begin body tempering...
Sitting cross-legged in the courtyard, Ye Fei began his first body-tempering attempt of the night.
Spiritual energy poured in, traveled through his meridians, then gathered at an acupoint and began to cause pain.
It hurt. It hurt terribly. This time, the pain was in his shoulder.
Even now, Ye Fei had no idea what these acupoints actually were. After all, although most people who appeared in the chat channel already had genetic enhancement options, information about human acupoints and methods of evolving and improving was almost never seen there.
Occasionally, someone claimed there were shortcuts to cultivation, but they were almost always exposed as scammers and swindlers...
The familiar pain intensified. Fortunately, the pain in his shoulder was still bearable.
The time he had failed, the pain had been in his spine at the back of his neck. He hadn't endured it and had passed out, causing the attempt to fail.
After half an hour of pain, a soothing sensation suddenly spread from his shoulder throughout his body, and Ye Fei relaxed.
[Body tempering successful. Defense +1, Comprehension +1]
The body tempering had succeeded, but this time, it hadn't increased the strength he wanted.
Still, whatever the gains were, success was all that mattered.
Rather than rushing into his second attempt, Ye Fei stayed where he was and continued cultivating peacefully.
As he slowly absorbed spiritual energy, both his body and mind relaxed.
It wasn't until after three in the morning that Ye Fei stopped cultivating. Seeing that his spiritual energy had once again exceeded 200, he attempted body tempering again.
This time, the pain was actually in his head.
"Urgh-aaah-!"
His cries of pain carried far across the quiet Snow Mountain.
Ye Fei had always thought the attempt he'd failed had been bad enough.
But now, he couldn't even control his voice. His agonized screams brought the two sleeping little ones running outside.
They had seen Ye Fei undergo a "tribulation," but they had never seen him clutching his head with both hands, lying on the ground and repeatedly smashing his head against it.
"Yip..."
Little Fox didn't dare approach. The little fox lay on the ground nearby, watching the human's suffering with tear-filled eyes.
"Awooo-!"
Little White Tiger lay down beside Little Fox, but soon sprang up and charged beyond the wooden wall with an angry roar.
"Aaow-!"
Little Fox didn't go outside, but raised a small head and let out a roar before lying quietly down again.
Outside the courtyard wall, wild wolves with green-glinting eyes were gathering in this direction, drawn by the cries.
Ye Fei hadn't lost consciousness yet. The pain truly had driven him to the brink of collapse, but he kept using the pain and sensation of his hands striking the ground to stay as conscious as possible.
As he struggled, a notification quietly appeared.
[Your cries have disturbed a nearby hunting wolf pack. Your home has entered a state of emergency. Wolves are attacking...]
The message appeared, but Ye Fei couldn't hear or see it at all in his current state.
"Aaow-wooo-!"
A wolf's howl rang out, already right outside the courtyard wall.
"Yip, yip..."
Little Fox hadn't wanted to go outside, but with so many wolves now, the little fox couldn't leave a companion to face them alone.
Even knowing the human couldn't hear, Little Fox still said something to Ye Fei before leaving, then jumped onto the courtyard wall, glanced back once, and appeared beside Little White Tiger.
The attacking pack consisted of 35 wild wolves, all with combat power between twenty and thirty.
Little White Tiger activated the beast king aura that had never been used before, immediately suppressing the enemies' abilities. Wolves that came too close trembled on all four legs...
But the pack wouldn't retreat, especially with two pack leaders present this time.
Little Fox and Little White Tiger were two equally white little bundles in the snow, swiftly dispatching the surrounding wolves with claws and sharp teeth.
One, two, three...
Although the wild wolf leaders were directing them, there were still differences between pets and wild animals, even when their combat power was the same.
When Ye Fei finally endured the half hour of agony and pushed himself up with one hand, supporting his still-dizzy head with the other, the two little bundles had already fallen asleep on the ground nearby.
They couldn't process carcasses, but they could feed in the most primal way beasts knew: tearing into their prey's flesh and blood.
And once those wild wolves had been killed, the tastiest part for the two little ones was naturally the Beast Essence Stones Ye Fei could extract by dismantling them.
So, in fact, they had eaten themselves into a stupor...
"They really are... adorable..."
Ye Fei got up and walked over to the courtyard wall. He looked at the wolf carcasses strewn across the ground outside, then at the two little red bundles in his arms. They really were...
Savage!
At first, he had been stunned when he opened his eyes and saw two red bundles. Fortunately, their displays both showed that they were evolving, which put his mind at ease.
Now, looking at the mangled wolf carcasses, Ye Fei was certain that when Little Dumpling fought prey near him, she held back some of her instincts as a beast.
She was probably afraid of frightening him...
Before you continue